


AU of Werewolf/Vampire AU

by Persephone_Kore



Category: Girl Genius
Genre: AU of AU, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Werewolf, F/M, Fluff, argument
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-09
Updated: 2014-11-18
Packaged: 2018-02-24 18:20:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,922
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2591498
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Persephone_Kore/pseuds/Persephone_Kore
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Klaus really thought it might work until he went to check the crib two days before the twins' first full moon and found Zeetha snuggled up to a puppy. He almost made it out before Zanta got home.  </p><p>This is an AU spinoff, posted with permission, of <a href="http://archiveofourown.org/works/2432186/chapters/5391932">Khilari's vampire/werewolf AU</a> from her Dark OT3 prompt series. The background to that one has the canon parallel of Klaus taking Gil and vanishing, leaving his non-werewolf wife mystified. In this one she catches him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [khilari](https://archiveofourown.org/users/khilari/gifts).



Klaus met Zanta when the wolfhound she was walking growled and tried to bite him. It had been a long and irritating day, he was in a foul mood, and his body language was not calculated to be conciliatory to domesticated dogs or, honestly, anybody at all. 

She checked the dog hard with the leash, trying to apologize and scold at the same time. Klaus growled back. They both stared at him, the dog looking alarmed and the human's eyebrows rising, and he decided _he'd_ probably better apologize before things got out of hand. 

At least dogs were easy. He had the wolfhound's tail thumping in less than a minute while the woman watched him quizzically. "That's a turnaround." 

He glanced up and grinned wryly. "She probably thought I was threatening her packmate." 

"You did look a little vicious, although I didn't think it was at me." She tilted her head. "You know, most people assume she's male." 

Klaus blinked. "What, they aren't aware large breeds come in both?" 

She burst out laughing and said, "Don't ask me," then sobered to a slight thoughtful smile. "You looked like you'd had a lousy day. Do you have time to get coffee with me?" 

He'd been stalking along at a good clip but he supposed stopping to pet the dog probably did give away that he wasn't hurrying anywhere specific. He stood up, drawing a slightly plaintive protest from the wolfhound. "I have some time."

The dog turned out to belong to a friend who was traveling and didn't feature in most of their future dates. Most werewolves didn't drink coffee and Klaus was up around the clock three times before he thought to order decaf. It was worth it. 

Marrying Zanta was a terrible idea -- he had too many secrets and too many responsibilities and she was (amazing) normal. It was also the best thing that ever happened to him. Until they had twins, at which point they both agreed there might be some competition. 

He really thought it might work until he went to check the crib two days before the babies' first full moon and found Zeetha snuggled up to a puppy. 

Klaus stopped, elbows on the railing, and put his head in his hands. _He_ could hide it. Zanta didn't like how often he was away but it wasn't that hard to avoid transforming in front of her. He couldn't even tell Gil to _try_. 

They had to go. 

He'd _known_ better. 

He knew how to do this. He could pack and be gone before Zanta got home from work. Clothes, diapers, cash, pack light. Most things could be replaced. It wouldn't even be hard. (Easy as ripping your heart out.)

He pulled Gil from the crib and then had to pick Zeetha up when she wailed and rock her back to sleep. He wrapped Gil snugly against the evening chill and prying eyes. Late but not too late. And out. He hated running away. He hated breaking promises. He had responsibilities to Zeetha and Zanta, too, but... Gil was the one who couldn't get by without him. Zanta would be angry and hurt but she didn't _need_ him. She'd get over it. He turned back to lock the door, trying not to think of every car on the road as a threat when there was no reason for anybody to assume anything untoward about a father taking his child somewhere. Zanta would--

A car door slammed behind him. "Klaus! Where are you going?"

\--Zanta would, evidently, get home early for once in her life. 

"I -- Out for some fresh air," he said. 

She frowned at him. At the bag, less than the overburdened parents who had always amused him but more than he usually carried. At the precious tiny bundle in his arm. "With _one_ baby? You couldn't wait until I got home?"

"Here you are, so apparently I did." 

Zanta gave him an exasperated look and pushed past him to unlock the door again. "That does not count." 

"Zeetha's sleeping. She's fine." He didn't check Gil's blanket. If it hadn't been dislodged he didn't need to; if it had, he'd just draw attention. 

"That doesn't mean you should leave her by herself! And I don't know how you expect _Gil_ to get any fresh air if you wrap him up like that. He's got to be practically smothered. It is not _that_ cold." She reached for the blanket to pull the folds away from Gil's face, and Klaus angled him away, out of her reach. 

"Klaus, what--" 

"Sorry. Zanta--" If Gil would just change back, _now_ , he could apologize and go back inside and try again later. But Klaus could still feel the shape of a pup and the texture of fur through the blanket. He swallowed. "I'm sorry." 

She stared up at him. Then she took another look at the bag, pulled it toward her, unzipped it to see his change of clothes instead of just diapers. "Klaus. Are -- are you leaving me?"

He closed his eyes. His chest ached. "Yes." 

Silence. 

" _No._ " Zanta's hand locked on his wrist and her voice came out implacable as a sword. "No. I have put up with a lot from you; I have stopped asking about your friends and family and past; I have put up with you disappearing every few weeks to who knows where to do who knows what. But you are not just walking out on me without even telling me why." 

"It's not as if I _want_ to go!" he snarled.

She stared at him open-mouthed. "--Well, good! But then why would you? And why like this?"

"To avoid this kind of scene," he muttered. "We don't... need to argue, we don't need a lawyer, everything here is yours anyway--"

_"You were taking our son!"_

"I can't leave him."

"But you can leave me and Zeetha? What the _hell_ , Klaus!" She reached for Gil. Klaus didn't move quickly enough this time; he didn't let go, but Gil was waking up to the sounds of the argument and he squirmed and let out a little yip. 

Klaus and Zanta both froze. 

Zanta recovered first and partly unwrapped the blanket. 

Then she let go and fell back, just slightly. Not toward the door: keeping Klaus cornered between it and her. He could bull past her and run; it would be easy enough physically, but he didn't have the heart. And it would be conspicuous. Last resort. 

"Klaus," she said, very carefully, "that is a puppy."

Klaus tried to think of any other response to this and ended up nodding and saying seriously, "Yes. I know." 

Zanta stared at him. "I think we should go inside." 

"I think I should just go." 

"I thought we had established that is _not_ happening," Zanta said. "Come inside, let me check on the babies, and talk to me."

"Zanta--"

"Klaus, give me the puppy."

Now she not only thought he was abandoning her, she had to think he was either playing a very bizarre prank or experiencing some sort of delusion. Klaus wasn't sure which to play along with. Especially since as soon as Gil got hungry he might very well just change back. "It's Gil," he said. 

He could almost see _this isn't funny_ in her eyes, but what she said was, "Well, that's all the more reason, isn't it?" 

That was exactly why he _shouldn't_ and yet remarkably hard to argue with. And it wasn't as if she'd hurt him. Not really. She wouldn't hurt Gil. She wouldn't hurt a puppy. But werewolves... well, if she did, he could-- If Gil changed and she dropped him, Klaus would have time to catch him. He let her have the puppy and followed her to the crib. 

Gil squirmed and whined because she'd stopped petting him. Zanta's free hand curled on the railing tightly enough to drive the blood from her knuckles. "Klaus. _Where is our son?_ "

This was exactly what he'd meant to avoid, but it was too late, all or nothing. He could have taken Gil and disappeared. He could not let her think Gil was _gone_. "I told you--"

"Do not try to make this a joke, Klaus, where-- Now what are you doing?!"

Klaus had kicked off his shoes and was pulling his shirt off over his head. "I'll show you," he said. Unbelievable claims required evidence. 

"If you think you can distract me from _this_ by--"

He laughed unsteadily, with a wild edge to it that sharpened the worry in her eyes, and stopped himself and swallowed. "No. Zanta, this is what I haven't been telling you the whole time. You really are holding Gil. I'm a werewolf." Was he betraying all the rest of them, for his wife's peace of mind, or more likely a new set of worries? Was he betraying Gil, tiny and helpless in human hands? 

It wasn't quite too late. He could see the skepticism in her eyes. 

He changed. Bone and muscle shifted, sound and smell flared around him, sight faded a little but he kept his eyes on Zanta. 

Her mouth shut. He heard her teeth click together. 

She looked down at the puppy in the crook of her arm and Klaus fought the anxious whine trying to climb up his throat. Gil, oblivious, licked at her fingers when she ran them over his muzzle and then bumped them with his head for more petting. 

Zanta obliged and looked back at Klaus. "You're really -- he's really --" She frowned. "Do you still understand me like that?" 

Klaus glared at her and deliberately nodded instead of changing back to answer. 

Zanta huffed. "I didn't think people could change shape until about thirty seconds ago. How should I know what your brain does?" A pause. "Granted I've been wondering about that _anyway_."

Klaus snorted and took a cautious step toward her. 

Zanta tensed... and then took a deep breath and dropped to one knee on the floor, extending a hand. 

Which was a little ridiculous. It was a little ridiculous for him to sniff her hand as if she really were introducing herself to a strange dog. He knew what she smelled like. But he actually hadn't been a wolf around her before, and it was different, and he did it anyway before the last few steps carried him to put his head over her shoulder and let her hug him. 

She smelled _good_ , under a drift of perfume; she smelled like home. If he had to leave now he thought it was going to be even harder. It felt irrationally optimistic to even think 'if'. But she _was_ hugging him... actually she was petting his shoulder, though he wasn't sure if that was on purpose or automatic because he was essentially dog-shaped.

"I'm still mad at you," she said after a moment. Her arm tightened on him. " _Mostly_ for trying to sneak off instead of telling me what was going on. I've got a lot of questions. They start with 'What were you thinking?'"

Klaus pulled his head back and nuzzled Gil, then sighed and changed to human again, crouched beside her. Zanta raised an eyebrow. He shrugged. "I can understand you perfectly well, but I can't speak as a wolf."

"And?"

"And... I was thinking you weren't likely to take this well." 

"You thought I'd take having you run off with our son _better_?"

Klaus winced. "Than finding out we're both werewolves? Quite possibly."

Zanta ruffled the soft fur on top of Gil's head and then slid her fingers under his jaw. Gil panted happily. "We really don't know each other very well at all," she said after a moment. "Do we."

Everything he hadn't told her. The predictions he still couldn't quite believe were wrong. "I suppose not." 

"Evidently you didn't think I'd still love you." A beat. " _I_ didn't think you'd leave." He didn't answer that. Zanta sighed. "What did you think I was going to do? Obviously I'd have to believe you, with this kind of demonstration."

"I didn't know. That was the trouble. It's hard to predict how someone might react to finding out they married the main attraction of a monster movie. It could have been anything from calling Animal Control to accidentally alerting the vampires." 

Zanta paused. "Vampires. There are also vampires?" 

His lip curled. "Unfortunately."

She looked amused. "Not as much nicer than their folkloric reputation as werewolves?" 

Klaus grabbed her shoulder. " _Don't._ " She was needling him because he'd tried to leave and told her he was one kind of monster. She didn't have any idea. "They really do have hypnotic magic, they really do prey on humans, and they keep us as mind-controlled slaves if they catch us." 

Zanta sobered and looked at him levelly for a moment, then leaned in to kiss him lightly. "All right. What do I look out for?" 

Klaus sighed, leaning into her a little, and rubbed his forehead. "You're probably safe, actually, unless they notice me. And I'm fairly good at preventing that," he added, before she could ask. "I spend a lot of time trying to prevent them from finding any of us. They mostly focus on human prey who won't be missed, which doesn't apply to you, or who can be seduced and let in on the secret, and you're not the type." 

She arched an eyebrow. "I'm not interested in being seduced by anybody else at this point -- and you are much more distracting now that I'm not panicking, by the way -- but if there's magical hypnosis involved, I think I need more of an explanation there. How do you know I never was?"

"Hrf. Immortality, wealth, power, glamor, and the ability to literally make people do whatever you want, at the price of drinking their blood to survive." He paused and then smiled at her. "You recoiled on their last selling point. That's why."

"You do have _some_ faith in me, then," she said. It came out sounding like she'd meant it to be sharper and more joking, and Klaus hesitated only a second before pulling her into a hug. She let him, which was still a relief. After a moment she said, "Are you cold?"

"No." He was shivering, though, the tiniest bit, all worked-up energy with nowhere to go. Nowhere he had to go. She was doing it too, but he hadn't been sure she'd notice. He leaned his head against hers and breathed deep. "...Starting to calm down. I think."

She pulled back to look at him. "You're still worried. What should I be worrying about?" 

Klaus ran a hand through his hair. "Even if we don't have to leave... this isn't going to be easy. I'll still be gone a lot--"

"At least now I'll have some idea _why_." 

"It's going to be a few years before Gil can understand that there are times he shouldn't change."

They both looked at Gil, who had dozed off again. "Well," Zanta said, "no daycare, certainly. If you're still going to vanish for days at a time, either give me a chance to get time off, or _you_ get to find a babysitter." 

Klaus let out a slightly startled laugh. "Babysitters I've got. I can--" He paused. "I could take Gil, at least. Zeetha would be... surrounded by puppies."

Zanta frowned. "I'm sure she'd learn not to pull anybody's tail, but I was thinking you could get somebody to come here. Especially when they're this young. I keep having to remind myself Gil's _mine_ so nobody is about to yell at me for taking such a new puppy away from its mother!" 

She _did_ have a point. Klaus could give them bottles -- when he had hands. "I'll talk to someone. I'm not sure this has come up before. Falling in love with a human...." 

"Doesn't happen much?"

"Doesn't usually get this far," he said, "and usually the children aren't werewolves unless both parents are."

She stood up abruptly, Gil still snuggled against her, and went to the calendar. Which showed moon phases, as so many of them did, even though werewolves always knew and most humans never really needed to. "Ah. What exactly... happens at the full moon? Obviously it's not the only time you're a wolf." She glanced back over her shoulder. " _That_ can't be like the movies, I think. Or else you're taking precautions."

"We don't lose our minds and have to be locked up to keep from attacking people, no," Klaus said drily, going to join her. "Although puppies do roughhouse, so Zeetha might find herself pulling tails in self-defense. We can't change to human at night while the moon is full." Which _would_ make feeding them without her tricky. "We can't change to wolves during the day when it's new, either, but you can see why that's less conspicuous." 

"Useful for planning when Gil can have visits with people we don't want to explain to, though," Zanta said. 

"I hadn't thought of that." He put his arms around them both and she turned her head to kiss him on the nose. This was real. Even if he felt he might be having more trouble believing it than she was with the discovery that there were werewolves.

"What do you normally do? Keep them away from anybody who isn't a werewolf until they're old enough not to transform?" 

"Mostly. Although probably the parents have learned to take advantage of the new moon. I never had puppies of my own before. Children. Quit laughing!" Not that he could really blame her. 

"Sorry." She leaned back into him. "How many werewolves are we talking about? Or am I still not cleared for that information? And what _do_ you go and do, anyway?" 

"Around a hundred adults. And I lead the pack."

" _Oh._ " Zanta twisted around to face him, rather bafflingly looking more alarmed, if not exactly frightened, than at any point since he turned into a wolf. "Everybody's furious with me for taking up your time, aren't they?" 

Klaus blinked at her and then tucked her close and put his chin on top of her head mostly so she wouldn't see him trying not to laugh. "No," he said. "There's a general impression that I haven't been behaving very sensibly. They're not exactly wrong, either, not that I'm _telling_ them so. I suppose some of them might resent it, but they hardly have it out for you." 

"Only all the unattached women, I guess?" she said, although she managed not to sound any more seriously worried than any time she joked about other women being jealous of seeing her with him. "Hm. If 'wer' was strictly male, should they be w--"

Klaus lost the battle with laughter that time. "No!"

"But--"

"Language marches on," he said firmly, "and you are the only person I know who could say 'wifwolf' with a straight face." 

"All right." She looked up at him, hair falling back over his arm, and that was one of a thousand little things he'd have missed. "So what does that involve? And _do_ you need more time? I'm not going to complain about it if I know why you're going." 

"I haven't been _neglecting_ them," he said. "And I did tell you I could watch the babies most days. But... maybe more often and for less time at once, mostly. Now that you know." He slid one hand up the back of her neck. "A lot of it is interpersonal, within the pack. Politics, so to speak, keeping up with other packs -- there are other free packs, though not close by. Watching out for vampires. I have the final word on most decisions that strongly affect the pack as a community. And I own the apartment building, technically."

That got him a startled look, probably because he'd given her the impression he was very erratically employed in apartment maintenance. He probably _could_ have told her the truth about that one, actually--

"Where is it?"

\--Although it would have naturally opened him up to questions like that one. "I could take you there," he said, oddly startled to realize it. "I should probably have mentioned working on renovations, though. It wasn't in very good shape when we got it." 

Zanta grinned at him. "What, you mean I finally get to meet your friends?" 

"Family," he said. "Much of it literally. My parents and grandparents led the pack before me. I have a lot of cousins." A quick grin. "So if you actually had competition it wouldn't have been from here." 

She grinned back. "All living basically the same place?" 

"It's more comfortable that way. And safer." 

"From vampires."

"Vampires, neighbors with dog allergies...." It occurred to Klaus that he might be _slightly_ giddy. "We can go tonight if you want. Although you should probably change into something you don't mind being climbed on." 

"Climbed on?" She handed Gil back to him to go and change. Gil stretched, yawned, and of course _now_ he decided to shift back to a more familiar shape and squall about being hungry. "--Just a second!" 

"Hold on and she'll do better than a bottle," he told Gil, heading for the crib because distance wouldn't keep him from setting Zeetha off, then called to Zanta, "Dress for puppies!" 

He could hear laughter rippling in her voice. "Right."


	2. Chapter 2

* * *

It was normally difficult to concentrate on anything else when there was a baby crying, but in this case Zanta's mind kept going back to _werewolf_. Her husband was actually a werewolf. So was her son. Klaus had taken off all his clothes and turned into an enormous wolf right there in the nursery. 

She was mostly sure she was not having a very strange dream. By this point if she were asleep, just considering the possibility should have prompted some unraveling of the dream-logic around the edges. So apparently there were actually werewolves. Solid with hot breath and soft coarse fur. 

She checked the red suit for drool and then exchanged it swiftly for comfortable jeans and a soft stretchy top she could nurse in, at least when it was only one baby at a time, which was why she didn't actually bother to put it on yet. Klaus gave her an appreciative look and didn't exactly hand over either child so much as herd her bodily to the couch and then curl up with all three of them. All right, _wolf_ , seriously, not sheepdog. Where was her head? 

He'd been going to _leave_. With Gil, who was human again and latched on to drink eagerly. Her heart was still pounding. She'd known all along she didn't have nearly enough information about him, wondered every time he disappeared without explanation if he would actually come back. The fury and fear and shock itself at finding him on his way out with Gil had taken her by surprise and not really faded yet. 

Zanta let her head flop onto his shoulder. He'd been leaving. He hadn't thought he could trust her. And now he didn't seem to want to let go. She could feel his heart beating, too, not fast but jarring as a drumbeat in his chest. 

He hadn't wanted to go. She'd believed that when it tore out of him, bewildered as she'd been. "Idiot," she muttered. Klaus shifted a little. "I can see why you did it," she added, admitted, unwillingly. "But I wish you hadn't." 

He sighed against the back of her head. She felt the heat of it on the nape of her neck and thought about the hair that kept growing down his, along the upper spine, that she'd never considered was actually a sign of anything more than itself. What else had she missed? He said, "I'm glad you came home when you did." 

"Me too." They had that. They would work out the rest. There was actually a solid reason he kept vanishing, too. Family responsibilities. "So where is it we're going, exactly?" 

"Across town," he said, which wasn't very exact. "We should take the bus."

Zanta made a face. "Really?"

"If you don't like the bus you're probably not going to like it there," he said, sounding irritated and defensive. 

She very much doubted that conclusion, actually; riding a bus had an entirely different set of pluses and minuses from anybody's home, regardless of the neighborhood. "Unless you're on an unusually direct route, it's going to take an hour to get there, and I have to be up at four. That's either not much of a visit or you're asking me to stay the night."

"Well, you could," he said, but followed it up with the logical result, "but then I suppose you might have to get up at three. I should have guessed there was a reason you were home early. I'd rather not take your car there, though. If anything happens I'd prefer to minimize the obvious connections." 

Zanta considered this. "I have a less conspicuous car."

She could feel Klaus angle his head to look at her. "That's news." 

"I use it for going places I don't want to be connected as obviously to home," she said. Or to stand out in general. 

"Hrm." The noise was more of a slight rumble in his chest than a vocalization. "Well, I gathered 'security consultant' wasn't exactly a desk job somewhere around the first set of bruises." _For professional reasons, I can't give you many details. I assume you're all right with that?_ The question had been a little wry even then, at a point when he'd met most of her friends (and might have met her parents if they'd lived closer) and the most she knew was that she couldn't connect him to any of her cases, dogs were putty in his hands, and they had enough chemistry to blow up a lab. 

"It's been a desk job for months," she assured him with a sigh, stretching as much as she could without dislodging Gil and Zeetha. "I feel _so_ out of shape." She wasn't really, by any reasonable standards, but there had been a whole new set of demands on her body and it still felt different. Still was different. 

"You're really not." Then, slightly too neutral, "You haven't liked it." 

She elbowed him very lightly in the ribs. "I was restless! But I had people to protect." And it had been... fascinating. "I'm actually still very pleased with myself over the whole thing, although if Gil was transforming every month I'm kind of sorry I missed it. Would he have been?"

"Ah--" Klaus paused for a moment. "I actually have no idea. I believe with a werewolf mother, children transform _with_ her. In your case I'm not even sure how you'd tell."

"Assuming ultrasound would be out --"

" _Yes._ "

Zanta snorted. "Come to think of it, _there's_ something you might have wanted to warn me about in advance."

"You were likely to schedule one in the middle of the night?" 

"...Okay, not very." 

"Zanta. Are you considering getting pregnant again for the express purpose of poking at the baby during full moons to try to figure out if it's a wolf?"

"Of course not!" She turned just enough to grin at him. "I might consider getting pregnant again because I like our babies. But I'd probably try to check, yes." 

He shook his head at her, but he smiled back and kissed her, too. If she hadn't still been sore from the birth, they might have put the twins to bed and gotten distracted enough to put off the visit. Instead they put the twins down _briefly_ \-- this time Gil changed while she was watching -- and managed to get dressed and eat their own dinner before leaving for the garage where she had two well separated spaces. 

" _Gah,_ " was Klaus's first remark on opening the door. 

"The car smells?" she asked. 

"Like about four kinds of cologne," he said, and added only after the babies were secured in their car seats and he'd folded himself into the slightly cramped seat beside her, "and at least two or three very frightened people. Were you trying to scare them or calm them down?"

"Calm them down. I prefer not to try to frighten people while I'm driving." 

Klaus eyed her. "It's fairly recent. What happened to 'desk job'?"

"I especially prefer not to try to frighten people when I'm driving and pregnant," she said drily. "Sometimes I still handled transportation. I didn't take on bodyguard tasks, though. Where is it we're going?" 

Klaus relented on the hazard level of transporting fearful clients and gave directions. Zanta made a note to get the car cleaned out more often if she was going to use it for people who could smell the difference. She might have to ask him more about vampires, too. Thinking about it... there were a few dead-end cases that _might_ make more sense if they involved magical hypnotic beings. Who didn't mind slave trafficking. Although she wasn't sure if the explanation would open up any new avenues or just leave her stymied by a different stone wall. 

The sun was well down by the time they reached their destination. Klaus started to take Gil from the car and draw him close, then hesitated minutely and handed him to Zanta instead, and took Zeetha. 

Zanta's night vision wasn't quite adjusting fast enough, in the play of light and shadow between streetlamps, to determine whether it was a large dog or wolf lounging on the sidewalk that sat up and pricked its ears at Klaus. The fact that he said "Hi" and leaned down to pat it on the shoulder didn't necessarily clear this up and she wasn't sure there was a polite way to ask. 

She thought that was a wolf, though. 

She suppressed a smile when they got inside because the hallways were _almost_ perfectly clean except for a thin dusting of shed fur that none of her friends with dogs ever managed to completely defeat either. 

Klaus took her upstairs and knocked on a door. "Clara? It's me." He shot a suddenly amused glance back at Zanta and then added, "You know you were complaining about not getting to meet my children?" 

"What, you've brought them?" The door opened abruptly, revealing a woman with the same fluffy hair as Klaus's, but darker; the same ears and cheekbones; and apparently the same habit of wandering around her home stark naked. Clara (presumably) took one look at Zanta and immediately slammed the door shut again. " _Klaus!_ You could have mentioned you brought _her_!" 

"Ah, sorry?" Zanta offered, feeling that somebody ought to say it and Klaus looked far too unrepentant. 

"No, I'm sorry, we're cous -- we're family, and I didn't think to... um...." Clara seemed to be floundering.

Right. Clothing didn't shift, which was why Klaus had undressed first. Which Clara probably didn't want to assume was an available explanation for why she'd just opened the door naked to another woman's husband.

"He told me," she said to the door. 

"Pardon?" 

"It's all right," Klaus said. "Gil turned into a puppy, and I told her. It's all right." Zanta thought that was leaving out a bit, but the relieved grin, even directed mostly at a doorframe, was too endearing to argue the point. 

Clara opened the door again, this time in a bathrobe, looking rather stunned. "That must have made for an interesting evening." 

She was talking to Klaus. Zanta answered anyway. "You can say that again." Clara looked at her. Zanta met her eyes, took a breath and held out Gil. Nobody was going to run off with him _now_. "Do you want to hold him?" 

"Oh--!" Clara looked delighted. "So tiny--" Then her eyes went back to Zanta's. "Are you sure you don't mind?"

And with that she mostly didn't. "Don't get out of my sight," she said, not quite joking. "They tried it at the hospital."

Clara smiled and took Gil and cooed at him. "He's adorable. And Zeetha? Is it both of them?" 

Klaus looked startled at that, and Zanta felt her eyebrows rise. "She hasn't shown any signs," Klaus began, discomfited. 

"But I suppose we won't know for sure for a couple more nights, will we," Zanta said, a little too brightly. Wouldn't _that_ have been a mess? Both of them gone, Zeetha suddenly a pup, and no explanation whatsoever. 

Clara looked warily between them, as if wondering about Klaus's assurance that everything was _fine_. "What happened? Were you holding him when he changed?"

Zanta took a second to make sense of the question, mostly because the first transformation she'd seen had been Klaus and somewhat because they were attracting an audience. Presumably they lived here and were more family -- pack -- but it was still a little distracting even if the few who didn't have clothes on were hanging back. "Oh," she said. "Gil. No. I got home and--" She glanced at Klaus, considered her assorted reactions at the time and picked one that didn't imply too much detail. "Was confused." She was not going to complain in front of his family. Especially considering they'd presumably share his concerns. 

Klaus gave her a thoughtful look and then put his arm around her. "I nearly cut and ran back here with Gil, and she didn't let me. Everyone, this is Zanta." 

"We've been hearing about you," Clara said. 

He talked to his family about her. "That's nice to know, actually." 

Clara's eyes glinted with amusement. "Some of us have been hearing rather a _lot_ about you...." 

"Uh-oh. Am I getting boring?" 

"Definitely not _now_." Clara looked up at Klaus, eyebrows lifted. "Maybe you should stay in with them this month." Now that was a courtesy 'maybe' if Zanta had ever heard one. Okay. She liked Clara. 

"I'll be fine if he needs to go," Zanta said. She assumed Clara wouldn't have suggested it if there were any real problem -- with staying in during the full moon, or for someone else not having him around. But she felt she should clarify the point. "He's always been very understanding about _my_ work schedule. But I wouldn't mind the company." 

"Knowing Klaus," Clara said, "he probably needs to be with you and know you're safe and not changing your mind -- I saw that glare, Klaus, did you see her glare?" Zanta folded her arms, somewhere between annoyed and trying not to smile. Clara finished, more gently, "At least as much as you need him in reach." 

Zanta looked up at Klaus. "Wolf instincts do tend to run a little high at the time," he said. "Given I'm no longer trying to hide it, the alternative might be bringing you a deer or something." 

"That sounds nice, but if I'm picking, I'd rather have you with me." 

Somebody in the background, very distinctly, said, "Aww." 

Klaus grinned and kissed her swiftly. "I'll be with you." 

"Here or at the house?" Zanta asked. 

...He kissed her harder for that. "Either way," he said several seconds later, then looked around. "All right. Let's go sit down and I'll introduce--"

At this point Gil first turned back into a puppy, then promptly burped and spit up on Clara's shoulder. Zanta covered her eyes briefly and then reached for him. "I am _so_ sorry." 

"It's okay. I'm used to it. You're not yet, are you?" Clara relinquished Gil and went inside, returning with worn towels and offering Zanta one.

"Thank you. And not on anybody _else_ ," Zanta said ruefully. "It's only been three weeks." 

"I'll grant it's another advantage of not bothering with clothes, though," Clara said, pulling her robe away from her shoulder. "Do you mind?" 

"Me?" Zanta shook her head. "It's your home. I can see where it would be more convenient." She glanced at Klaus. "This does shed some light on your habits, actually." 

He blinked. "You never mentioned thinking that was odd."

Zanta cast her gaze to the ceiling. "Well, I didn't want you to _stop_...."

They went down to Klaus's apartment, which was on the ground floor practically off the lobby -- where he could keep watch, she thought. The lobby itself filled up rapidly and comfortably, as did his living room, and Zanta suspected there had been people (though obviously not Clara) who cleared out of the common areas when they realized Klaus was bringing a stranger in. Possibly because they were naked. That was going to take some getting used to, especially since she was used to watching body language. 

Clara asked whether she'd eaten and urged a glass of milk on her anyway, which she got out of Klaus's refrigerator. "If you get hungry again we do have venison," she added, and Zanta giggled into her milk. "I was ravenous when I was nursing." 

"I've noticed that," Zanta said. "This might be a silly question, but do you hunt often?" She frowned, suddenly worried. "Do you have a problem with people hunting wolves?" 

"We keep track of the human hunting schedules and seasons and stay well out of the way," Klaus said. "Or, stay mostly out of the way. Some of us work as hunt guides, and naturally will helpfully dispose of the rest of a deer or boar if a trophy-hunter doesn't want it." 

"Clever," Zanta said, then, "hello." A young wolf, small enough to have to stretch, had just put both front paws and a nose up over the edge of the couch cushion. Zanta offered a hand and then had second thoughts, but by that time she was being sniffed. "Um, Klaus, I think there are etiquette questions I should have asked before we got here." The pup licked her hand. 

"His name is Radu, he's a year old, letting someone sniff you is appropriate, and he probably does want his ears rubbed," Klaus told her. 

Zanta obliged. Radu backed away slightly, but only for room to jump up and sprawl across her lap. 

This, apparently, broke the ice for good. The children here were evidently used to climbing all over the adults, especially in wolf shape, and two more followed Radu's lead within minutes and wandered off only to be fairly promptly replaced. Zanta watched in quiet delight as Klaus held court -- well, it was more casual than that really, and he'd laugh if she called it that -- with small children and puppies periodically climbing up to be cuddled. 

And everyone older wanted to hold Gil or Zeetha, although Klaus effortlessly enforced limits on how often they could be passed around. When two puppies not much bigger than Gil ended up crying at her feet because they couldn't climb up to meet the new person, Zanta appropriated her couch cushion to slide down and join them on the floor. 

"We'll need to start childproofing earlier than we thought," Klaus said, descending to join her. "Most babies don't transform into wolves much for the first few weeks, barring the moon, because their eyes and ears wouldn't be open. But after that they start moving fast." 

Zanta frowned across the room in the direction of Radu, who was having a game of chase around several adults' legs. "Radu wasn't the size of a year-old wolf...." 

"No. The rate of development of our wolf form is faster than human at first but not quite so fast as a wolf. And slows down to match eventually -- fortunately, or I'd have been decrepit before I was thirty."

Zanta snorted. "Oh good. I _would_ have been disturbed if you were secretly only eight or something." 

"Definitely not." He tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. "On which note, though, about your etiquette concerns -- if a male who's not clearly still a puppy tries to get you to pet him, he's probably flirting." He directed a mock-stern look at one of the teenagers, who Zanta was pretty sure hadn't actually tried anything of the sort but ducked his head very much like a scolded dog. "So they should know better."

"Uh-huh. Does that mean I get to pet you, though?" 

"Have I _ever_ complained about having your hands on me?"

She pretended to have to think about it. "There was that one time I discovered your feet are ticklish." 

Clara transformed abruptly from wolf to human a few feet away to say, "Hah! Did you also discover he kicks?" 

"I dodged," Zanta said. "Nice reflexes, though." 

"If you think you can resist the urge to tickle my feet," Klaus said, amused, "you can pet me to your heart's content whatever form I'm in." 

Zanta ruffled his hair. He rolled his eyes and then darted in, without changing shape, to lick her cheek. 

They didn't stay much longer -- even Zanta was inclined to say not long _enough_ , but she had promised away her early morning. They came back, though, two days later. The werewolves were energetic with the evening, restless in a way that left Zanta trying not to fidget, and more than half the adults and older teens streamed out before or after sunset, silent as ghosts. 

Klaus stayed. When Zanta started yawning he chased everyone else out of his apartment, scooped Gil up by the scruff of the neck, and joined her and Zeetha on the couch, tail thumping against the far arm of it. 

Zanta rubbed his ears and then put an arm around him. She felt a long sigh as he relaxed, sprawling, and they didn't move from the spot for a long time.

* * *


End file.
